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'Divergent' lacks distinctive vibe (review)

By Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News

Posted:
03/20/2014 09:05:18 AM MDT

For a film about a defiant young heroine discovering she's a renegade nonconformist at heart, “Divergent” sure colors within the lines of the young-adult dystopian literature's playbook. You can practically hear a “Hunger Games” violin playing throughout this overly long (2 hours, 20 minutes!) and brutishly violent tale based on Victoria Roth's best-selling trilogy.

What makes this well-trod storyline enjoyable — almost — is its cast. The versatile Shailene Woodley anchors “Divergent” with fire and intelligence, nailing her role with the same plucky conviction that Jennifer Lawrence brings to the “Games” series. Woodley, so good in “The Spectacular Now” and “The Descendants,” receives strong support from both Theo James (TV's “Downton Abbey”) as her hunky, enigmatic love interest and Kate Winslet as a deliciously icy and mysterious manipulator. But even the three actors' magnetic presence can't distract from the fact that this material is as familiar as yesterday's lunch.

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Roth's story is set in a futuristic Chicago, a once-vibrant city that's been reduced to utter shabbiness as it struggles with postwar fallout about 100 years later. To keep order and peace, the population of this fenced-off metropolis has been divided into five distinct groups.

The group known as Abnegation embraces altruism with a Christ-like devotion. Amity does a lot of farming, while Candor speaks brusquely and provides comic relief. Dauntless represents rambunctious Marines-like protectors who take Parkour skills to dangerous levels. And Erudite is made up of intellectuals; they're problem-solvers with high-minded ideals. Obviously, there's a lot of symbolism being batted around, from biblical and literary names of characters such as Caleb and Beatrice to the premise that no single human virtue is more highly valued than another.

So how are these designations chosen? Every year, as a teen reaches a key age, individual tests determine which “faction” best suits a new recruit.

When Beatrice (Woodley) takes the test, a shocked examiner (Maggie Q) realizes she's “divergent,” someone who shares various traits of each faction but can't be lumped into a specific category. The designation is considered a cultural stain.

Rather than declare her status, an act that would lead to ostracization at the very least, Beatrice joins the limber and sexy Dauntless crowd instead of staying in the drably dressed and self-sacrificing Abnegation, a faction her parents (played well by Ashley Judd and “Scandal's” Tony Goldwyn) belong to.

Am I revealing too much? Hardly.

The bulk of his exposition is fired at us from the get-go in a voice-over by Beatrice, who gets signed up for brutal physical contests that will determine if she has the Dauntless goods. By laying out the plot foundation out in voice-over narration, format screenwriters Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor have made the scenario digestible, welcoming newbies to Roth's world while respecting the trilogy's humongous fan base. Where they and director Neil Burger (“The Illusionist” with Edward Norton) go astray is in logic. The confrontations here are so lopsided, the outcome becomes laughable. A word of caution to parents: This is one violent film, so heed that PG-13 rating before letting your kids go see it.

The filmmakers also do the disservice of overstuffing their narrative, probably so they can appease fans of the book. But ditching a few “Fear Factor”-like tests endured by Beatrice (who eventually adopts the hip name of Tris) would have made a brisker film.

Where the filmmakers succeed is in creating Roth's world. Seeing Chicago hobbled and decayed makes Roth's vision of the future seem even more a possibility than the one imagined by Suzanne Collins in “Hunger Games.”

While “Divergent” may not measure up to “Games,” it's much more watchable and smart than a spate of other YA-based movie atrocities, from “The Host” to “Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.” That's a credit to Burger and the writers.

But this dystopian template needs some work. A little innovation would likely create a brighter future for the ensuing films based on Roth's trilogy.